Clamp and guide for working buttonholes



(N0 Moxiel.)

C. DONOVAN. GLAIJEP A'ND GUIDE FOR WORKING BUTTONHOLES. No. 533,792. Patented Feb. 5, I895.

INVENTOH A from/E rs,

iJNiTED STATES PATENT Fries.

CORNELIUS DONOVAN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

CLAMP AND GUIDE FOR WORKING BUTTONHOLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,792, dated February 5, 1895.

Application filed March 15, 1894. Serial No. 503,745, (No model.)

To all whom it Hwy concern.-

Be it known that I, Oonnnmos Donovan, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Clamp and Guide for Making Buttonholes by Hand, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. One of the objects of the invention is to aid those who work hand made or hand stitched button holes, and the invention consists in a simple device adapted to clamp the cloth near the button hole to be stitched, and to guide the needle when stitching the side edge or edges of the opening or slit formed in the cloth to make the button hole, substantially as hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my clamp and guide applied to a piece of cloth or other material, and as in the act of being used to stitch the one side or edge of a button hole slit or opening previously made in the cloth. Fig. 2 is a top View of said clamp and guide Fig. 3, a side View of the clamp and guidti closed; and Fig. 4. a sectional side or longitudinal view of the clamp and guide open.

A indicates a piece of cloth in which a button-hole Z7 is to be stitched or worked by hand.

B B indicate the clamp and guide which is mainly composed of two narrow plates hinged together as at c, at their back end, to admit the cloth in between them, but formed at their forward end with two pointed noses (Z d inclining downward and which when the device is closed as in Figs. 1, 2 and 8, by for instance, a cam lever D pivoted at e to a projection fpassing through a slot in the upper plate B, clamp or pinch the cloth in between said noses. This closing action is against the pressure of an opening spring 9 between the plates B B, which spring serves to throw and hold the device open, on turning up the cam lever D as shown in Fig. 4., to admit the cloth in between the plates B B or more particularlyhetween the noses d d of said plates. The upper nose d has its edges beveled from the top down as shown at Z, and the lower nose at which is larger than the upper nose cl, is provided with an upwardly projecting marginal flange or border h, which when the cloth is clamped between the noses, throws up the edge of the button hole, so as to facilitate the working of the same. This raised border his provided with fine or close grooves e' down or across it on both sides and at the point end of the lower nose piece d.

To use the implement, it is first adjusted to clamp thecloth with one side of its lower nose d parallel and in close proximity to one side of the button hole I) as shown in Fig. 1, when the edge of the button hole will be thrown up as shown in said figure. The threaded needle is then passed over the beveled edge of the nose (1 of the upper plate B which beveled edge will incline the needle aright for its passage and entry successively, beginning at one end of the button hole, down to and over or through the cross grooves t' in the one side of the raised border it. As the needle is thus passed over or through in succession the cross grooves i on the one side of the nose (1' it passes the thread in through the cloth on one side of the button hole, and so that on drawing back the needle through the open button hole after each penetration of the cloth, the button hole will be whipped or worked on its one side, the grooves t' serving as guides for the needle to make the stitches close and regular and at a uniform distance apart. After the button hole has thus been worked on its one side, the clamp and guide should be reversed to point in the opposite direction so as to work the needle and its thread as before but from the opposite side of thegrooved border 71 of the nose (1'. The button hole may also be closed at its ends by suitably constructing or shifting the pointed end of the clamp and guide.

This clamp and guide B B holds the work firmly in place, and if the cloth is on the bias it keeps the cloth from stretching, and it does away with overcasting before working. By the guiding action of the grooves i, the needle can be manipulated so that a novice even can do good work with little practice.

By the use of the device it is impossible to take the stitches too deep or far apart, which gives the work a nice uniform appearance.

The clamp and guide shown in the drawings is represented as constructed for making a button hole having a round or enlarged opening n at its one end, by providing the noses d d of the plates B B with approximately semi-circular openings s in the opposite angular sides of said noses, but when the button hole is only required to be a mere slit then the openings 5 are omitted.

It should be observed that where the two plates come together in proximity to the button hole, holding the cloth in between them, they throw up the edge of the button hole to be worked, which facilitates the operator doing good work.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp and guide for working button holes, comprising two jaws of unequal size, the smaller jaw having a beveled edge and the larger one a marginal flange projecting above the beveled edge of the smaller jaw, as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp and guide for working button holes, comprising two pointed and downwardly inclined jaws of unequal size, the smaller jaw having a beveled edge and the larger one a marginal flange projecting above the edge of the smaller jaw, as specified.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp and guide for working button holes, comprising two pointed jaws, provided with opposite curved recesses, one jaw having beveled edges and the other a marginal flange, as set forth.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a clamp and guide for working button holes, compris ing two hinged plates having pointed noses, provided with opposite curved recesses, one nose having beveled edges and the other provided with a grooved flange, and means for clamping the plates together, as specified.

CORNELIUS DONOVAN.

Witnesses:

R. M. EDW'ARDS, F. W. VAN Rnvnneon. 

